PSTH2: Chapter One

Something people don’t realize about the end of the world is that it never comes. Even when the sky rains flame and magic detonates one in ten micro-transistors, people put their lives back together. Humanity’s a tough bunch, and as long as there’s one of us about, the world will be put back together, no matter how many times it ends…

-

The Apocalypse and You, 375 Modern Era.

-

I took a long, slow, deep breath, reaching out for the essence in the air around me. I split it in half, then thirds, quarters. On and on, I broke it into threads, then began to pattern them back together, layering them on top of one another, until I had four distinct braided cords of essence. From there, I spun the tip of the cord into a sharp prong, long and thin, like a medical needle, and gently slid it into Scales, Hex, and Zale’s core, while the fourth needle slid into my stomach. There was no pain or discomfort – this was an exercise in mental imaging and guiding essence, not an actual needle. 

At the same moment, each of my Primals began to pull in essence on their own. The magic slipped alongside the braided channels that I’d created, and the power began wrapping around each of my Primals’ cores while filling my spirit in a far less dramatic or potent way. The amount was small, since we’d surpassed the level of the ambient essence, but across hundreds of hours of work with little more to do than cultivate? Well, even centicredits could add up given enough time. 

I slowly opened my eyes and glanced around, looking down the tunnels all around to see if there was anyone around. It had been the better part of two months since Rane and I had returned home, and while a lot had changed, a lot had also stayed the same. The village’s ambient essence level had continued to rise slightly, thanks to the release of the essence heart’s suppression. There had been a wedding that I’d missed while on the road, but it was mostly the same, sleepy village I’d grown up in. Rane had stayed around for a while, before eventually heading back to college, her winter break expended.  

The changes in my life and around the island had been a lot more pronounced. The thumbnail that Rane had helped me with, as well as the improved editing, and probably the article about the Terrible Three had caused my slowly expanding following to practically explode, at least by my standards. There were now almost eight hundred people actively following my stuff, and I’d received four separate donations for my fight against Councillor Kingfisher. The largest had been five credits, but it was still amazing to me. 

For my part, I was immensely glad that such severe restrictions around algorithms were in place. I followed a few tamers from Frostbranch, which had less strict laws around data gathering, and engagement-driven content, and their tamers couldn’t go longer than two weeks without producing more content, or else risk losing whatever following they’d garnered. There was still such a thing as losing momentum even here, of course, but at least I wasn’t being actively punished by the Consortium for not producing fast enough. 

The differences around the island were of an entirely different sort. Archeologists, anthropologists, essence researchers, and more had swarmed over the location, and Oceanseed had put out a call for workers of all sorts. That was the reason I was down in the caves beneath the old Obsidian King’s manorhouse. As a tamer with three Councillor Seals, I was generally considered to be more than adequate protection for the heart, as well as for all of the expensive equipment down here. Though most people had their needs met, with the massive number of enchanted technology, high grade batteries, and more was enough of a temptation to warrant a guard. 

The heart in the central chamber let out a contented hum next to me, and I nodded to it. I didn’t think it could actually read my thoughts – the sapience levels of essence hearts was a subject of considerable debate all on its own – but it was still the other reason I had the post. The heart seemed to like me, probably due to some sort of instinct or memory about how I’d been one of the ones to free it from containment. It hadn’t attacked anyone else that had been sent to guard it, but its guardian Primals had been considerably more standoffish than most other hearts, especially to Magians. 

So I had accepted to do four shifts of guard duty each week, more than anyone else. It gave me ample time to cultivate, since I’d only had to drive off one person so far, and even that hadn’t really been more than me waving off someone who peeked their eyes over the ledge, checking to see if the equipment was unguarded. As another bonus, one of the essence heart’s twin guardians had come forward as I was preparing to leave each shift, and had sparred with me. 

Though its new guardians were only level twenty-two, each of them were supercharged by the essence heart, and my team and I had to work hard to win even in a three on one. Even when we lost, the essence gain was considerable.  Between the cultivation, sparring with the guardians, and our own training, we’d shot forward in levels at a rate that was entirely unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Zale was nearing the end of level twenty-five, while Hex was in the late stages of twenty-four. She’d had an interest in continuing to refine her ousia, so we’d progressed through that, even though I personally thought that she would be better served with levels than continuing to use the spiderweb principle. Scales, however, had been the one to reap the greatest rewards. With his new form came a torrent of new possibilities for training, and we had worked together to pluck as much of that low-hanging fruit as possible. 

The result? Scales was now level twenty-seven, and had rounded out his spell set: Frosted Bite, Aqua Fin, Enhance Defense, and his newest move, Healing Mist. The spell had unlocked for him at level twenty-four, generating a veil of healing mist that drifted around him, slowly restoring his pneuma over time. Despite the name, it wasn’t actually a healing spell, since it couldn’t mend any damage to his ousia weave or my biology, but in a fight, repairing cracks to the form was still incredibly valuable. The name was just a holdover from times where the relationships between the parts of essence was less understood, and there was a pervasive idea that enough pneuma would allow you to actually heal and cease aging. 

It wasn’t quite the high levels that I might have been recommended, but expecting to jump ten levels in two months was absurd, especially with each increasing level ten barrier requiring more and more essence. Even if I wasn’t in the level thirties, though, I was getting antsy, ready to get on the move again, to meet up with my friends, and to continue to challenge Councillors. Besides, we’d gain levels quickly proving ourselves against tough opponents. 

Soon, I’d be heading out. But not today, or even this week. There were two things that needed to be done before I could move on. The first was to complete my contract with Oceanseed that I’d signed on for. 

I spared a glance away from the tunnels to look around at the delicate, complex enchantments all over the walls. We were getting close. Moving an essence heart was incredibly difficult, but it was technically possible over relatively short distances, using a combination of massive, delicate, complex teleportation enchantments, at least four magians over level fifty working together, and the heart’s own cooperation. It was massively expensive, and even with all of this, we wouldn’t be able to move it into the village, only onto a patch of wilderness a few miles out of town. 

According to some of the grumbling I’d heard from the researchers, if the essence heart had been smaller, there might have been more options for physically moving it around sans teleportation, but even then, it was incredibly tricky. The tunnels that essence hearts created were like veins in a human’s heart, and without those channels, the heart was liable to die. That was why places like Galena didn’t have essence hearts carried to them – the expense and risk was too much. 

Truthfully, if not for the fact that the heart was on a historic site, as well as the fact that it was faintly possible that this heart had produced a legendary rarity Primal, there was no way Oceanseed would have bothered to move this one. But with the mansion overhead gradually in the process of being torn apart by the foundation all thanks to the heart’s tunnels, there was enough interest in moving it and calling in earth magians to repair the tunnels and preserve the site for the teleportation to be arranged. 

Truthfully, I thought pity might also be a factor. The essence heart had been locked up and drained for the better part of five centuries. That was a horribly long time, even if it was only as sapient as a fish. Most people would want to offer some help there. 

“You really have had a strange life, haven’t you,” I asked the heart, placing a hand on its smooth, opalescent white surface. It pulsed once, a motion almost like a heartbeat, and my thoughts drifted to the other task I needed to complete before I was able to go meet with Laurel and River. 

There was another village, only a ways down the coast from our own, and their school had requested I come in and act as a guest speaker for some of the students. They had an old tamer in the village, one who’d achieved some moderate success from her time in tournaments, but the kids there had all grown up around her, and the school wanted someone younger and more relatable, as well as from out of town. 

I honestly didn’t think that I was qualified to give a lecture to anyone about anything, but this was supposed to be fun and educational, not a deep dive. So against my better judgement, I’d accepted the chance to present about what Primals were, what taming was like, and why it was important to treat them all with respect. 

I was mentally going over my talking points when I sighed in annoyance. While I’d been busy getting lost in my thoughts, I’d failed to properly maintain the cultivation technique drawing essence in. I closed my eyes and slowly started to rebuild the threads, weave them, create a tip, and connect once again. 

A part of me expected someone to try and break in, or for a feral animal to attack, or an angry Primal to decide to pick a fight with me specifically. This was one of my last shifts, I was distracted by other thoughts, and I was only half paying attention. But, my shift passed peacefully, and after a fight with the heart guardian, Elizabeth arrived, leaving me free to kayak back home. Without any people to escort, I made it back quickly, and stopped by the grocers to pick up some more onions, before finally heading back home.